Owls must win to guarantee last day lifeline hope

Last updated : 19 April 2010 By C. Morris

Sheffield Wednesday had to settle for a point at home to bitter rivals Sheffield United on Sunday putting pressure on next Saturday’s trip to Cardiff City.

The Owls took the lead with five minutes remaining in the first half as Darren Potter struck a fine volley from Luke Varney’s cross in front of the Kop. Wednesday took the lead into half-time put were pegged back on the hour mark when Lee Williamson’s free-kick fluked into the Owls goal from an improbable angle after a foul on Stephen Quinn.

From then on the home side looked somewhat jittery but the visitors didn’t have enough to take advantage of this and at times looked content with a point, especially their fans who seemed happy to hold onto the ball when it went in to the away end. Both sides had chances to win in it with Jermaine Johnson fluffing his lines in injury time when well positioned.

The final whistle was greeted with ecstatic cheers from the away fans as though they had won major silverware, not drawn with a relegation threatened side who happen to have one of the worst home records in the country. In fairness the Blades have had little of any significance to cheer for generations and so take delight in the possible demise of their rivals is success enough for them. Those with even a modicum of nous however will recognise that it is the 20 defeats that the Owls have suffered that have put them in relegation trouble and not this draw.

As a spectacle the steel city produced a big game atmosphere with two passionate sets of supporters getting behind their teams with more vocal support than was evident in a certain other big city derby in the Premier League this weekend. World Cup 2018 bid representatives must surely have been impressed with the occasion that was on show at Hillsborough.

From a purely football perspective however there was not a great deal of quality evident from either side and the match probably gave an accurate account of what has been a very disappointing season for both sides of the city though obviously more so for Wednesday.

With two games to go the Owls have to go all out for three points at Cardiff City on Saturday as anything less would mean a win for Crystal Palace at home to West Bromwich Albion would all but condemn them to a return to League One with their only other hope being that Watford fail to pick up points against QPR on Tuesday and Reading on Saturday.